Dissertation Research: Fog and the fire regime in southern California shrublands

论文研究：南加州灌木丛的雾和火灾状况

• 批准号: 1311605
• 负责人: Carla D'Antonio
• 金额: $ 1.68万
• 依托单位: University of California-Santa Barbara
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-07-01 至 2015-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1311605&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Fog; fire; regime

For many Mediterranean regions around the world fire disturbance is important and can have important ecological and economic consequences. One of the primary controls on fire occurrence, behavior and size is the amount of water present in plants (called ?live fuel moisture?). When live fuel moisture is low, fires spread more. Although rainfall is thought to be the main determinant for plant water content, coastal California experiences seasonal fog during the late summer when drought is strongest. Plants in this region may be able to use fog as a water source which could alter their water content. This project seeks to understand this potential connection between fog and fire disturbance for coastal California. The first objective is to determine whether or not coastal shrubland plant species are using fog water. The proposed research utilizes natural differences in water isotopes between rain and fog to determine what type of water plants are using, and when. By tracking different sources of water uptake, this project can establish a link between fog and flammability of coastal ecosystems in California.Understanding fire disturbance in Southern California is a high priority for science and industry alike. Live fuel moisture is a critical component of the National Fire Danger Rating System as well as numerous fire modeling efforts. This project will effectively inform the greater fire science community about the controls on fire disturbance in coastal California. It may also demonstrate the use of a novel water source for California shrub ecosystems. This is important for the field of plant ecology as fog water use in plants is a relatively new discovery. Overall, this study will be the first attempt to connect a rarely studied climatic event, fog, to local and regional scale disturbance patterns. The results from this study will enter the scientific discourse through publications and conference presentations at the local and international levels. The researchers have a strong commitment to involving undergraduates in research and mentoring them, especially underrepresented groups, through their college careers. In addition to mentoring undergraduates the investigators will continue to work with outreach programs for mentoring young scientists and with UCSB?s programs such as CAMP (California Alliance for Minority Participation) and the Research Mentorship Program, a program for exposing high school students to scientific research.

对于世界各地的许多地中海地区，火灾骚扰很重要，可能会带来重要的生态和经济后果。火灾发生，行为和大小的主要控制之一是植物中存在的水量（称为“活燃料水分？）”。当活燃料水分低时，火灾会散布更多。尽管降雨被认为是植物水含量的主要决定因素，但夏季夏末干旱最剧烈的沿海加利福尼亚经历了季节性雾。该地区的植物可能能够将雾用作可能改变其水含量的水源。该项目旨在了解加利福尼亚沿海地区的雾和火灾干扰之间的这种潜在联系。第一个目标是确定沿海灌木丛植物是否使用雾水。拟议的研究利用雨水和雾之间的水同位素自然差异来确定水厂使用了哪种类型的水作用以及何时使用。通过跟踪不同的水吸收来源，该项目可以在加利福尼亚州沿海生态系统的雾和易燃性之间建立联系。理解南加州的火灾障碍是科学和工业的重中之重。活燃料水分是国家火灾危险评级系统的关键组成部分，也是众多火灾建模工作。该项目将有效地为大消防科学界提供有关加利福尼亚沿海火灾骚乱的控制。它还可以证明使用新型的水源用于加利福尼亚灌木生态系统。这对植物生态学领域很重要，因为植物中的雾用水是一个相对较新的发现。总体而言，这项研究将是将很少研究的气候事件雾与局部和区域规模障碍模式联系起来的首次尝试。这项研究的结果将通过本地和国际层面的出版物和会议演讲进入科学论述。研究人员致力于通过大学职业参与研究和指导他们，尤其是代表性不足的群体。除了指导本科生外，研究人员还将继续与外展计划合作，以指导年轻科学家以及UCSB的计划，例如CAMP（加利福尼亚州的少数群体参与联盟）和研究指导计划，这是一项计划，用于使高中生接触科学研究。